Tubular rib fabric



Patented Nov. 21 1933 TUBULAR m memo Nathan Levin, Trenton, N. 1., minute 8.

Brlnton Company, Philadelphia, Pa., 1. corporation of Pennsylvania Application May 29, 193i. SerialNo. 541,016

11 Claims. (ciao-201i The principal object of this invention is to provide s new method of operating a circular independent needle rib knitting machine and to make a new tubular knit rib fabric formed of a weft body yam having desis'ns'interknit with or enhbroiciex'ed thereon by stitches of other warp yams. s

In the meetings:

1 illustrates the stitches in detail,

the. 2 illustretm c section of'iabric,

3 illustrates a diagrammatic view of the tlles,

i 4 illustrctes the position of the needles on line E i of Fig. 8 end o A 5 illustrotee the position of the needles on 1 5-5 of 3.

the shown in 2 there e e. tubule-r section (3 Sill) fabric having a design 7 on the lace there= oi. @bviously this design may very desired. In l, an enlarged View oi the stitches oi as -tlon oi the fabric shown in Fig. 52, including teem, is shown.

Fin l the Kill? fabric is composed oi the plain ou do wales 9 end inside rib Wal s 8. The 27 contain clein stioi? the weft body y m 11 exclusively, whereas the wales 9 contsm one; oi the body end of the wane it, it), each ind-egcemlent re-= "lyey to Wale 9. In the wales 9 stitches CD belly 11 are interlmit with or drawn tl'liouzh stitches 13 oi the other yams ill. in a succession where the design tor the auction oi the some. Preferably the ill/112. p 1-K), it), are cliderent in color from 1 '1 from the body yam, so that e ormed, however the selec" n as to eecltrery. The best res .lts ere were equal to ca" slightly body yam. e gcorticn of the yez'n it as it from one stitch it to another stitch no. Wale, t the singleinter-= imj stitch oi the scaly yarn ll. At certain e accordance with desi "l, ye-ins 5 and it), more e in which case the.

y yearn ll ill e stitches of the it will be see;

where the 1c are I o stitches, that tit Ii wales con ice the number oi those twice the "Am 363 of stitches each re t 0! the rib wales or each of the other plain wales within a given length of fabric, and that the overall length of all the wales is substantially the same, the extra stitches of the warp yarns being forced to open wider than the stitches of the body yarn and being forced toward each other, by virtue of the fact that the lesser number 01 stitches in the intervening rib wales tends to draw the fabric to the length determined by the length oi! the rib wales alone. Thus the stitches oi the warp yarns are forced into a. raised or embroiderecl relation to the body stitches, and at the some time tend to cover up substantially all oi. the single intervening stitches of the body yam so that the letter cannot be seen upon casual inspection. Furthermore due to the feet that the entire fabric is mode up of stitches each of which contains at single yarn only, it is possible to draw the stitches into very small or tight loops in controcllstinction to stitches that are made up of 9. body and. c plating yarn in the some stitch. By

sin le yam is meant e, yam which may contain one or more strands, the term being used to distinguish from a. plm'eiitycf yarns such as are necessarily used in making plating stitches. The dwign and the outline thereoi may vary as desired so that the same may be either parallel, at en-sngle, or oemencliculer to the wales.

Referring now to Figs. 3 to 5, the preferred method of manipulating the needles to form the fabric will be described. The relation of the cyl finder needles 1?, and. the dial needles it is the some as m the usual circular independent needle rib machines. The fingers 19 carrying the yarns ii) are disposed in their bed in the relo= tion to the n edles 3.? and 1% es shovm in; Figs. 3 and Q. @nly features of the means for c oemting the needles and lingers will be de= scribed which are in addition to or need. special mention over the usual means. The lingers 19 are moved about their pivot point from the po sition oi 4- to the position of Fig. 5 by means of finger cam 2c, the. return movement ee ing 2... ede by the spring bend 21, or by e suit able com, The action of the end of the firmer adjacent the needle 17 to wrap the were yarn it around the same is a, cemming octicn and is Well motm the or.

in. 3 here is diagrammatic represents tion of the needl s. The cylinder needles 1?, when they llow the path 22 throughout raised at eec A by the usual means, to the position 0 I t on line of 3, to the slit-tine" of; or knocking over level where loo are knitted off and new stitches formed of the body yarn as the needles 17 take the same and are drawn by stitch cam 24 down to the stitch level, beneath the said cam. At this point, i. e. line 4-4, the dial needles 18 are out and take the body yarn in the usual way, that is the cylinder needles draw the yarn over the dial needles, and the latter then form rib stitches thereof. In fact the entire knitting action at feed A is identical with the ordinary action of cylinder and dial needles forming the usual types of rib stitch of a body yarn and is therefore familiar to those skilled in the art.

At feed B there is no weft or body yarn fed to the needles, but cnly the warp yarns 10, and these are fed to selected needles only. If, at this feed, none of the needles 17 are selectively raised by the wheel 26 then they do not cast off their stitch of body yarn, but merely pass idly under the second stitch cam 25, and onto feed A where regular knitting takes place on all the needles. If, however, certain needles such as 27, 27 are raised by the wheel 26 to the path 23, these needles reach the latch-clearing level and their body yarn stitches slip down below their latches, these needles taking on a warp yarn 10, as the fingers 19 are actuated at that time by the cam 20 and by spring 21 to cause the cam ends thereof to wrap the warp yarns around the selected needles as shown in Fig. 5. After the wrapping takes place, these selected needles pass under the second stitch cam 25 to draw the warp yarns into stitches 13 (Fig. 1) drawing thesame through the body stitches which have just previously' passed below the latches of said needles, and then these needles continue onto feed A where regular rib knitting takes place on all the needles. At feed B the dial needles are in as shown in Fig. 5, and since no body yarn is fed, only warp knitting takes place at this feed. The fingers 19 are each associated individually with a needle 17 and are placed, in accordance with the design, with certain needles. They are thereafter actuated continuously by cam 20 'at feed B, so that if a needle is raised such as needle 27, it is wrapped by the action of its own finger, whereas if a needle is not raised and it has a finger associated with it, then the actuation of that finger is simply an idle movement, the needle not being high enough for cam contact between the finger and itself. No body yarn is fed at feed 13, the needles which are selectively raised to form the design cast off their stitches of body yarn and take a warp yarn from their respective fingers and knit the same. At feed A the selected needles as well as all the others cast off their stitches of warp and of body yarns and take on the weft body yarn to knit the same. 1

If desired, stitch cam 25 may draw a longer stitch than stitch cam 24, without injuring the body stitches on unselected needles, for the reason that at feed A the dial needles are out and the cylinder needles determine the stitch length by drawing their stitch over the dial needles, whereas at feed B the dial needles are in and the body stitches are formed so that there are no dial needles over which to strain the yarn with a slightly longer draw to the cylinder needles. This longer draw on the selected needles acts to form the stitch, whereas this same longer draw on the unselected needles merely takes up on the body yarn stitches without injuring them.

In Fig. 3 an ordinary design wheel of common knowledge in the art is shown at 26 in dotted lines, as one type of selective cylinder needle raising means. It is obvious that any type of needle selecting means may be employed at feed B to perform this function of selectively raising certain needles to form a design.

At feed A the rib inside wales 8 (Fig. 1) and so much of the plain outside wales 9 as are formed of the body yarn 11 are made. At feed 28 only the stitches 13 of the warp yarns 10 are made as has been made clear in the foregoing specification.

It will be understood that under the term body yarn I intend to include two or more yarns knitted simultaneously after the manner of a single yarn and that the term single yarn stitches is intended to cover situations where two or more yarns are knitted simultaneously in like manner. An example of such practice as I refer to is found in that common method of reinforcing by adding one or more auxiliary yarns to a main body yarn and knitting them all together, instead of using a single heavy yarn. in heels and toes or the like.

I claim:

1. A seamless tubular knit rib fabric having outside plain and inside rib wales, said fabric being made of a body yarn and of other yarns for bertain'of said plain wales, said plain and rib wales comprising a succession of interknitted single yarn stitches, certain of the stitches of said certain plain wales and all the stitches of the other plain wales as well as all the stitches of the rib wales being formed of the body yarn, the remaining stitches of the said certain plain wales being formed of said other yarns, said other yarns floating past the said certain of the stitches of said certain plain wales.

2. A seamless tubularknit rib fabric having outside plain and inside rib wales, said fabric being made of a body yarn and of other yarns for certain of said plain wales, said plain and rib wales comprising a succession of interknitted single yarn stitches, certain alternate stitches of said certain plain wales and all the stitchesof the other plain wales as well as all the stitches of the rib wales being formed of the body yarn, the intervening stitches of the said certain plain wales fol;

being formed of said other yarns, said other yarns floating past the said certain alternate stitches of said certain plain wales. r 123 3. A seamless tubular knit rib fabric having outside plain and inside rib wales, said fabric being made of a body yarn and of other yarns for at least one of said plain wales, said plain and rib wales comprising a succession of inter-knitted sin- I gle yarn stitches, certain of the stitches of said plain wale and all the stitches of the other plain wales as well as all the stitches of the rib wales being formed of the body yarn, the remaining stitches of the said plain wale being formed of said other yarn.

4. A seamless tubular knit rib fabric having outside plain and inside rib wales, said fabric being made of a body yarn and of other yarns for at least one of said plain wales, said plain and rib wales comprising a succession of interknitted sin-' gle yarnstitches, certain alternate stitches of said plain wale and all the stitches of the other plain wales as well as all the stitches of the rib wales being formed of the body yarn, the intervening stitches of the said plain wale being formed of said other yarn.

5. A seamless tubular knit rib fabric having outside plain and inside rib wales, said fabric being made of a body yarn and of other yarns for certain of said plain wales, said plain and rib wales comprising a succession of interknitted single yarn stitches, said certain of the plain wales each containing a greater number of single yarn stitches formed of the body yarn and of the other yarns than do each of the rib wales formed of the body yarn, within a given length of fabric, whereby the stitches of the other yarns are forced to substantially cover the single yarn stitches of the body yarn in said certain wales.

6. A seamless tubular knit rib fabric having outside plain and inside rib wales, said fabric being made of a body yarn and of other yarns for certain of said plain wales, said plain and said rib wales comprising a succession of interknitted single yarn stitches, said certain of the plain wales each containing twice the number of single yarn stitches formed in alternate succession of the body yarn and of the other yarns as occur in each of the rib wales formed of the body yarn,

within a given length of fabric, whereby the alternate single yarn stitches of the other yarns are forced to substantially cover the intervening single yarn stitches of the body yarn in said certain wales.

'7. A seamless tubular knit rib fabric having outside plain and inside rib wales of stitches formed of a body yarn knitted in each wale in each of a succession of courses, and a design formed on the outside of the fabric composed of a plurality of other yarns formed into stitches containing design yarn only, said design yarn stitches being interposed between successive stitches of the body yarn in a wale. I

8. A seamless tubular knit rib fabric having outside plain and inside rib wales of stitches formed of a body yam knitted into each wale in each course in an area of fabric, and a design formed on the outside of the fabric composed of a plurality of other yarns each formed by itself into stitches interposed between stitches of the body yarn in a wale, said design having an outline of which at least a portion is disposed at an angle with respectto said wales.

9. A seamless tubular knit rib fabric having outside plain and inside rib wales of stitches formed of a body yarn knitted in each .wale at each course in an area of fabric, and a design formed on the outside of the fabric composed of a plurality of other yarns respectively individual to outside plain wales and formed into stitches interposed between stitches of the body yarn in their respective wales, said last-named stitches not including concatenated loops of body yarn.

10. A seamless tubular knit rib fabric having outside plain and inside rib wales of stitches formed of a body yarn, and a design formed on the outside of the fabric composed of a plurality of other yarns formed into design stitches between successive walewise stitches of the body yarn said design stitches containing pattern yarn only.

11. A seamless tubular rib fabric comprising successive courses of body yarn interknitted ta form rib wales and plain wales, certain of the plain wales each containing more plain stitches per unit of length of the fabric than the number of courses of body yarn in such unit of length, the additional stitches in said plain wales being formed from auxiliary yarns each individual to a wale.

, NATHAN LEVIN. 

